Stack Season: 5 Money Saving Tips (By: @Keem0Therapy)

Saving money can be extremely difficult to do. If you, like myself, haven’t built the habit over time, trying to learn the process can be a challenge. Here I’ve compiled the top five tips that have helped me and hopefully a few of them will be able to do the same for you.

5: Shop Smart

I don’t know when it became the cool thing to only pay retail price for everything but if you ask me that’s pretty foolish. Of course there are certain things that never go on sale, but you would be surprised at how many things you can get at a cheaper price by looking around. Whether it be food, clothes or even vacations, it’s important to look around to see where you can save a few bucks. Apps like groupon are a huge help when it comes to buying things at a discounted price.

4: Eat In

If you’re anything like me a lot of your money goes to food. Nothing wrong with going out to eat every now and then, but it should not be a consistent thing. Take the time to go grocery shopping instead of buying lunch every day and you can save as much as $200 a month on lunch alone!

3: Prioritize

Prioritizing is huge when it comes to saving money. We all want the finer things in life, and there’s nothing wrong with that. However there is a problem when you give yourself those things all at the same time. Learning to stagger non-essential purchases. If you learn to separate needs from wants, and stay away from impulse buys, you’ll slowly notice your closet won’t shrink as fast as your bank account grows.

2: Create A Budget/ Put Away Plastic

As I stated earlier it is extremely important to be able to separate needs from wants. However it’s not enough to just know the difference, take it a step further and put it into writing. Having a budget will allow you to put money aside of every possible situation so that you’re never blindsided, and have a plan to save money. Most things in life are easier to accomplish when goals are set forth and saving money is no different. A budget will help you towards achieving that goal.

Also a cool trick is to put away the plastic. Once you’ve created that budget, take out however cash you need for that week and put away all of your debit credit cards and do not use them unless it’s and emergency. This will teach you discipline and will be a big help on your journey to a bigger bank account.

1: Pay Yourself

I read this once in a book my friend Colin gave me, and it stuck with me ever since. The concept is actually pretty simple. You have bills every month that you have to pay. Well you need to add yourself to that list of people that need to be paid. Now I’m sure you’re wondering what the difference is between saving money and paying yourself . Well when you pay one of your bills you can’t ask for the money back when something comes up. This should be the same concept when it comes to paying yourself. Have an account aside from your savings account that you put money in and forget about. You shouldn’t even consider this as your money. Just keep adding to it and forgetting about it . Before you know it you’ll have a nice little emergency fun in case of a rainy day.